Location: Florence, Italy
Listening: Won't Get Fooled Again, by The Who
Wearing: PermaGrin (Leah's idea)
President Barack Obama.....President Barack Obama?.....President Barack Obama!
I kept repeating these words to myself this morning at 5:45 am Florence time shortly after I found out that the United States of America elected Barack Obama in a landslide defeat over Senator John McCain. I experienced a number of different emotions shortly after making this discovery.
First, disbelief. I had stayed up late into the Florence evening trying to wait for the last polls on the west coast to close so that I could be part of the moment. Unfortunately, fatigue set in and I dozed off for about an hour. Upon waking and checking CNN.com, I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not. This was the first time that I uttered the words President- Barack- Obama--almost as if they were too improbable to be spoken in that order. I rubbed my eyes. I was awake, and it was true.
Next, excitement. This was my political Christmas, the image that I (like many, many others) had been hoping and waiting for for over a year. And it was all wrapped up in Red, White, and Blue.
Then, concern. I couldn't help but worry for the safety of the President-elect and his family as they walked out on stage together. Considering the historical magnitude of this moment for African Americans (and of course ALL Americans) and the fates of the two most prominent black leaders of the sixties (King, Malcolm X), I was afraid that someone was going to try and hurt him. This will be an ongoing fear for me.
The next thing I felt was a sort of catharsis-- an emotional release. It's been a while since I've teared up, but I will admit that I was overwhelmed by the moment and could not keep my eyes from watering up. I (again, like many others) had invested so much in this, and I could finally let go of the anxiety and waiting. Hope, Progress, and Change had finally come.
After this I fell back asleep.
And the last emotion that I've felt up to this point happened to me earlier today as I was walking across Santo Spirito Square to get a bite to eat. In celebration, I chose to put on a coat and tie this morning. The tie that I selected to wear is red, white, and blue--which clearly identified me as an American. Being the long, lanky thing that I am, small Italian people tend to notice me as I walk by, and this time I noticed they were smiling at me. It was at this moment--on a beautiful fall day in Italy over 4,000 miles from the United States--that I was more proud than I have ever been in my life to be a citizen of the United States of America. Pride is what I felt then, what I feel now, and what I will continue to feel as long as Barack Hussein (yes, that's his middle name and NO, it doesn't scare me) Obama is the Commander in Chief of the United States of America. We have our leader.
On facebook I've been watching some of the things that people are saying about the election outcome. Many are wonderful, positive, expressions of patriotism and pride. Others are angrier, bitter, and some even offensive. I hope that all you will reject cynicism and self-interest and instead I invite you to take advantage of this opportunity for unity. This moment in American history is bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger the triviality of wedge-politics, bigger than Republican and bigger than Democrat. It is about a new direction for America, one that will allow us to restore our reputation globally and with many of our own citizens at home who have been neglected, left out, or forgotten. (I'm thinking specifically of veterans and many of the people who STILL do not have a home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.)
As for the notion of American Exceptionalism--I believe that America is today more exceptional than it has ever been. But Barack Obama embodies a new American Exceptionalism, one that is defined by hope, progress, empathy, restraint, intelligence, and class, entirely free of any pejorative connotations. This is the emergence of The New America, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
God Bless America. --Paul
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. "
--President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
